SACRAMENTO – California Teachers Association President Dean E. Vogel issued the following statement on the state Senate’s passage of AB 484—a bill that would overhaul the state’s testing system and align it to the new Common Core State Standards:

“Passage of this bill means California will take a common-sense approach to implementing the Common Core State Standards and the new computer-based assessments students will be required to take. Suspending the State Testing and Reporting program this year allows students and educators to better prepare for the new tests aligned to the Common Core standards. It makes no sense to test students on material they haven’t been taught or to force them to take an outdated test. At the same time, this bill will give more kids the opportunity to do a practice run this year on the computer-based tests.

“The transition to the Common Core standards and new assessments will dramatically impact how teachers teach. The implementation must be done thoughtfully and in a way that is best for California students, rather than what’s best for federal bureaucrats. Educators must have the support, resources and professional development they need to align curriculum, instruction and assessments to the new standards.

“We’re also happy that testing second-graders will now be a thing of the past in California. It’s never been a good idea to subject second-graders to these standardized tests and it’s never been required by federal law. We commend the governor, the state superintendent of public instruction, and lawmakers for doing what’s right for students and ensuring we have an accountability system that works for California.”

###

The 325,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3.2 million-member National Education Association.